


love bug

by Dresupi



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awesome Darcy Lewis, Awkwardness, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Companionable Snark, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Demisexual Character, Demisexual Pietro Maximoff, Demisexuality, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kissing, Light Angst, Love Potion/Spell, Love Venom, Magical Bug, Not Actually Unrequited Love, POV Darcy Lewis, Pietro Maximoff Feels, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Romance, SHIP DARCY LEWIS WITH ALL THE THINGS, Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 03:05:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13695582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: When Pietro is bitten by a magical love bug, he says the one thing Darcy's been waiting to hear from him.  Too bad it's not real.  Love venom confessions aren't real.But, there's still a way for this story to end happily.  And it totally does.AKA the one where Pietro's demi and awkward and desperate for Darcy.





	love bug

**Author's Note:**

> For localanimenerd
> 
>  

“A love bug?” Darcy asked, eyebrows arching skeptically as she tried to take in what Helen said.  "Are you serious?“  

"Do you think I’m kidding?” Helen asked, nodding her head towards the other room. The other room where a very hyper Pietro was currently zipping around and trying to escape.  To get to  _Darcy_.  So he could… like…  _love_  her or whatever.  It  _had_ looked a little suspect.  That little pink bug that had buzzed down to land on Pietro’s arm at the park that day.  

It had bitten him, he’d sworn out loud, scared a dog, gotten woozy, sat down on the ground, stood back up and was suddenly madly in love with her.

Her best friend.  In love with her.  And Darcy, sitting here acting like it wasn’t every single one of her dreams come true. It made her heart wrench just a little.  Because what harm could it do?  

 _A lot of harm. A LOT.  Because he doesn’t really love you.  He just thinks he does._   

Darcy sighed heavily. “Should I leave? Would that make it easier?”  

“No… I worry about the tenacity of those walls if he can’t see you…”  The tenacity of the shatterproof glass that Tony had built all these exam rooms out of.

Darcy glanced back at him again, the look of pure anguish on her friend’s face was more than she could bear. “Well, let me just… take him back to his apartment.  He can sleep it off.  He’d settle down more if he was in his own bed.  Plus… I could call Wanda.  She’d be able to help if things get too hairy.”  

Dr. Cho pressed her lips together and nodded. “Okay.  Maybe it’s for the best.  I’ve seen this before, and it should pass by morning if not earlier.  He does have a fast metabolism.”  

Darcy nodded.  "Cool, cool, cool.“ She tried to fight the urge to pull up a stool and ask Helen just exactly  _where_  she’d seen this before.  This ‘love bug’ that sounded like a bunch of bullshit to Darcy.

"Call Wanda, tell her what happened, and I’ll go inform Lover Boy that he’s free to go.”

“And you’re sure he’ll be okay? That love bug venom doesn’t make someone violent, does it?”  

Helen shook her head.  "Nope.  It just… enhances the feelings that are already there.“  

Darcy froze for a moment, her phone in her hand, her finger poised over Wanda’s contact information.  "Enhances the feelings that are already there? Like, his friendship feelings, you mean?”  

Helen shrugged.  "Maybe. I’m not really the one you should be discussing this with.“  She looked pointedly towards Pietro in the exam room.  "But the one you  _should_  be discussing it with is not in the best place for discussion right now…" 

"Because he doesn’t  _have_  feelings for me.  Not like that,” Darcy insisted.  There was no way she was going through this again.  Pietro had politely let her down a year ago when she’d asked him out.  Told her he needed time.  Which was fine. And instead of  _going_  out, they started  _hanging_  out.  

Yeah, she was still lugging around a helluva big torch behind her wherever she went, but it wasn’t obvious.  She was fine being friends with Pietro.  Regardless of how hard it was to carry the torch.

Darcy pressed down on her screen, calling Wanda.

* * *

She was having second thoughts about taking Pietro out of Dr. Cho’s care.  As it turned out, Wanda wasn’t  _there_.  She was on a mission.  

Darcy tried to exhale, only to discover Pietro was standing uncomfortably close to her as she pressed on the keypad of the elevator.  "Piet. Let me live,“ she reminded him.  

"Sorry…” he muttered, stepping back, even though it looked like it pained him to do so.  

“Me too…” Darcy murmured.  "I shouldn’t have started shooing that bug…"  

“And what? Then it would bite  _you_?” he countered.  "Better me than you,  _princeza_.“

Darcy inhaled sharply.  That word was going to be her cause of death.  "Piet… I asked you not to call me that.”  

“Sorry,” he repeated, frowning as he pushed his hair out of his eyes.  "Habit.“  

"Not a habit.  You’ve never called me that before today,” she reminded him.  "You’re not in love with me.“  

"It feels like I am.”  

“But you’re not.  We’re friends.  The love we have is familial,” she lied, lyingly.  Well.  On  _his_  part it was.  But they weren’t talking about her.  

“You asked me out once,” he argued softly.  

“Yep.  And you turned me down, so I moved on,” Darcy said pointedly, if a little bit harsh.  As soon as she bit out the words, she wished she could take them back.  The look on his face was killing her.  

The elevator doors opened and she stepped out of them without another word, stalking down the hall towards Pietro’s apartment.  Helen’s warnings circled around in her mind.  

 _Don’t upset him unnecessarily, it will make him double down.  Be vague.  Be kind.  And do not encourage him. He has no control of his emotions.  Do not leave him.  He needs to sleep this off.  It won’t happen if he doesn’t sleep.  And he won’t sleep if you’ve stormed off down to your place._   

It was the last piece of advice that she really didn’t like right now.  

She wanted to do just that.  Leave him here and go lock herself in her bedroom to cry for the foreseeable future.  

But, she supposed, she could put off crying indefinitely until tomorrow.  Pietro would be back to normal and likely super-skittish around her.  So it would leave her ample time to sob out her sorrows.  

She wasn’t sure which was more sad: Knowing this was going to leave her an emotional wreck but doing it anyway for the sake of her friend, or literally penciling in cry-time for tomorrow.  

 _Both.  Both are more sad._   

She waited at his door for a split second when he zipped up beside her and pressed his hand to the door.  It swung open, greeting him as he stepped inside. 

It greeted Darcy too, once it realized that she was here.  

“Ms. Lewis.”  

“FRIDAY,” she replied.  "Super pleased to hear you.“  

"The feeling is mutual.”  

Pietro flopped down on his sofa and Darcy milled around in the entryway, staring at a painting on the wall that she’d seen a billion times before.  

He cleared his throat.  "You can come sit down. I promise I won’t maul you.“  

She chuckled nervously and took a few furtive steps towards the living area.  She chose to sit in a chair opposite the couch and Pietro sighed in disappointment when she sat down.

"You never sit there.”  

“Well, today, I thought I would.”  

He leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands clasped together loosely, peering at her.  "I didn’t say no because I didn’t want you.  I said 'no’ because I didn’t  _know_  if I wanted you.“  

Darcy’s eyes fluttered closed.  "I was given a list of approved topics. Suffice it to say, it’s all small talk.  This is not small talk, Piet.  It’s big talk.  Enormous talk.  Gargantuan talk.  And we can’t have it right now.”  

“I didn’t know if I wanted you, but now I do know.  And I want you.  Because I lo–”  

“Pietro.  You don’t.  It’s that bug venom that’s like… morphing your friendshippy feelings into relationshippy ones. And you only think you want me because you think you love me.  And you don’t.  So you don’t.  Now can we drop this?”  

“Don’t tell me what I feel, Darcy,” he countered.  

“Your feelings are completely valid, Pietro. But regardless, they’re  _not_  real.  They’re fake and they’re going to go away. I’m sorry, but they are.  I don’t like this any more than you do.”  

He tilted his head, grinning smugly.  "So you  _haven’t_  moved on.“

"Of course I haven’t!” she sputtered, reaching up to rub harshly at her eyes.  "But it’s neither here nor there.  It doesn’t matter.“  

"Your feelings are valid too,” he insisted.  "And if you’ve been feeling this way for our entire friendship, you should have told me.“  

"I’d rather be friends with you than nothing with you,” she stated bluntly.  "And it doesn’t matter what you’re feeling right now, due to a little pink bullshit bug, friends is all you want to be.  It’s very apparent.“

"Apparent how?”  

“You flirt with  _everyone_ , Pietro.   _Everyone._   Except me.”

“I don’t flirt with people I’m attracted to.”  

“That’s even more bullshit than that bug.”  

“I don’t!” he insisted.  "I don’t flirt when there’s a chance my intentions will be mistaken.  If that were true, if I flirted with everyone I was attracted to, I’d be flirting like crazy with you.  Am I?“ he asked.  "Am I flirting with you?”  

“No.  You’re being weird and calling me 'princess’ and telling me you love me.  In truth, you’re being super awkward and crazy adorable, but that’s beside the point.”  

The corner of his mouth quirked up into a half smile.  "Crazy adorable, huh?“  

"Stop.”  

“You’re right.  Off topic,” he pressed on.  "But I don’t flirt because I’m attracted.  I flirt because I like attention.“ He shrugged.  "What can I say, I’m an odd duck.”

“Because you just like flirting?”  Darcy asked, arching her eyebrows and folding her arms like she’d won.  Because she had.  This was bull and she wasn’t getting trapped in this web again.  Mostly because she’d never truly fought her way free from before, but that was just semantics.

“Yes.”  

“But not with me.”  

He shook his head.  "Flirting is not real for me.  I want to be real with you.“

She closed her eyes and sighed. "You have to stop.”  

“Fine.  But we’re coming back to this tomorrow,” he said, pointing his finger out at her.  "We’re not done here.“  

"You’re probably tired,” Darcy said, gesturing towards his bedroom. “From the bug venom.”  

“Tired of you not believing me…” Pietro muttered, leaning back and crossing his arms in pure obstinacy.  He propped both feet on his coffee table and narrowed his eyes.

“Want some chamomile tea or something?  I bet I could go steal some of Bruce’s sleepytime tea from the break room in the lab.”  

Pietro pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I’m not tired.”  

“Hence the need for sleepytime tea.”  

He scratched absently at his arm.  At the bite that had been an angry knob, but thanks to a couple of shots from Helen had calmed down to merely perturbed.  

“Look, the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner this is all over and you can figure out what you want to talk about with me, and you can sort the mess.”  Darcy thought her tone sounded genuine.  Not the disbelieving one she’d been utilizing all afternoon.  It sounded more relieved.  As if the bulk of this mess had passed them or something.  As if this wasn’t going to turn into a huge shit show the next day.  As if she wasn’t going to lose her friend in the process.  

She blinked a few times, determined not to start the sads up early.  

He nodded once.  "Okay. There’s chamomile tea in the kitchen,“ he said, standing up to walk there.  "Would you like some, prin –” He stopped himself abruptly.  "Darcy. Would you like some, Darcy?“  

It must already be wearing off.  He was decidedly more chill than he’d been right after he’d been bitten.

She nodded.  "Yes.  I’d love some.”  

* * *

She woke up on the couch.  No matter how much Pietro had insisted that she take his bed, she hadn’t budged an inch.

She wondered what the etiquette was here. Could she just leave without saying anything?  

Of course she knew the answer was no.  Before she even completed the thought, she knew she’d have to wait until he was awake to go home.

He was probably all kinds of embarrassed. Leaving him alone wouldn’t be the best idea.  

Sighing heavily, she sat up, yawning and stretching.  She wondered when exactly she’d aged out of being able to comfortably ride the couch.  Because if the ache in her back was anything to believe, she definitely had.  

It was of course in mid stretch that the door to Pietro’s apartment opened and in a blur of gray hoodie and black track pants, he was at her side with coffee and a white paper bag from the coffee shop down the street.  He was looking somehow like he’d wandered off the pages of GQ, even in a ratty hoodie, and she had her mouth wide open, yawning.  

 _Super classy, Darce._   

“I got you breakfast,” he said, smiling tightly.  

“I’ll take it to go,” Darcy said, reaching out for the bag and rising.  Except he didn’t let go, his arm came with it when she tugged.  

“I was hoping we could… talk?” he asked, gesturing to the pair of stools by his kitchen counter.

“Right now?” she asked, her forehead wrinkling in confusion.  "I… thought you’d maybe want to be alone?“  

He shook his head.  "No.  Unless… you’d rather–”  

“Nah, I’m cool!” she said, in a pitch much too high to be genuine.  "Let’s talk.“  

She sat down at the counter, pulling a chocolate croissant out of the bag. Her mouth started watering.  He certainly knew what she liked, didn’t he?

He took the other stool, folding his hands in front of him, obviously waiting for her to finish before he began.  

"Aren’t you hungry?”  

He jerked his thumb over to the sink, where a lone bowl and spoon resided.  "I had cereal.“  

"I could have had cereal too,” Darcy began.

“I ate it all,” he said, waving his hand.  "It’s fine, I needed the run.“

She picked at the croissant.  It was one of her favorites, that was true, but her other favorite was gazing at her with such intensity, that she pushed the pastry away.  "Say what you need to say, Pietro.”  

“I don’t love you,” he said softly, almost apologetically.  

Darcy cracked a smile.  "So is it too soon to say 'I told you so’, or?“

"Darcy…” He propped his head in his hand, elbow on the counter, his legs bouncing up and down.  "I’m sorry about yesterday, I really am…"  

She reached over to slide her hand up and down his forearm, causing him to still at the touch.  "Pietro, you literally couldn’t help it. And the only thing I care about is if we’re still friends.“  

"Of  _course_ …” He grasped her hand tightly. “But…”  

She panicked.   _But what?_   

“I don’t love you  _yet_.”  She gulped, her hand going limp in his.  "But I think I could.“  

Darcy started shaking her head.  "Piet… that’s just left over from–”  

“I’ve been feeling this way for a while… I know I told you I needed time.  And it took longer than I thought it would.  This has always been hard for me, it’s still one of the areas where I am woefully  _slow_. I know I shouldn’t ask you for anything more, but…” he trailed off, chewing on his bottom lip for a moment, leaving it pink and somewhat swollen.  Very kissable, regardless.

“But…?” she probed.  

“But I want to.  Ask you for more.”  He turned his hand in hers, lacing their fingers.  "I know I took too long.  But could you… possibly give me another chance?“  

The air left her lungs.  She squeezed his hand to let him know that she hadn’t passed out, but beyond that… words?  Words weren’t happening.  This was a lot to process.  

"So you really needed time?” she asked.  "You weren’t just trying to put me down gently?“

He shook his head fervently. "No. I knew I felt something for you, but I didn’t want to go further until I was sure. I'm… strange in that way.” He shrugged apologetically. “I won’t be anymore. Now that I know.”

Darcy ran her tongue over her bottom lip, staring at their hands, clasped together so tightly they were almost shaking.  "Pietro, you get all the chances you want.“

She tugged almost imperceptibly on his hand and he came with it.  All of him. He stood up, stepping closer to her, closer than he’d ever been. He tilted her head up to align with his, nose nuzzling hers before he closed the distance.  

The kiss was hot. Hungry. Seeking.  

His lips melded to hers, parting just slightly as he tilted his head, slotting his mouth perfectly over hers.  His breath hissed out of his nose, hitting her face.  She reached up and tangled her other hand in his hair.  The heat rose and pooled in her belly, and his free hand slid around her waist.  

The chair creaked as it scooted on the floor, and the sound seemed to break the spell.  He released her lips, but not  _her_. "You’re sure?  You’re not just being nice to me, are you?” he asked. “If you don’t want this anymore, I’d understand.”

“Do I need to kiss you again?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.  "I must be off my game if you can kiss me and still have questions…"  

He smiled, “I’m not going to tell you  _not_  to kiss me again.”  

“Good to know…” she whispered, tugging him back down so she could capture his lips.  

He broke it off only one more time.  "So do I have the okay to call you  _princeza_?  Because I’ve been wanting to for a long time.“  

She had to admit, she really liked the pet name.  Liked the way it sounded as it rolled off his tongue. Deep down, she secretly liked the thought of being his princess. Liked how it so clearly shaped what his opinion of her was.  Liked the look she was seeing in his eyes.  It wasn’t the first time she’d seen it, but it was the first time she understood what it was.  

Nodding, she winked.  "Sure.  Go wild.  But only if you’re a loyal subject.”  

After a split second, in which about thirty emotions crossed his face, Pietro kissed her urgently, nearly knocking the breath from her lungs in the process. His arm encircled her waist, taking her off the stool.  They moved super quickly over to the sofa. “I promise, I will be completely loyal,  _princeza_.”  

 

**Author's Note:**

> <3 <3 <3 
> 
> Hope you guys liked it! :D First time writing a character so close to ME when it comes to this kind of thing. <3


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